cle would have been as completely futilernas it was disgraceful.rn—Srdja TrifkovicrnA LAME DUCK PRESIDENT? Tornsuggest that this is Bill Clinton’s conditionrnis to be unkind to handicapped fowl.rnClinton and his colleagues seem to bernon the brink of madness. The administration’srndomestic policy moves arernhaunted by the ghosts of the impeachmentrnprocess, while its foreign policyrnteam stumbles like drunkards from pillarrnto post—from one manufactured crisisrnto another.rnTake the latest debacle: With a singlernstroke of its diplomatic pen on Februaryrn25, China blocked the continued deploymentrnof U.N. troops in Macedonia.rnThe 1,100-member “peacekeeping” forcernhas been in Macedonia since June 1993.rnThe reason for China’s U.N. SecurityrnCouncil veto? The Former Yugoslav Republicrnof Macedonia, invented after thernCold War by Ceorge Soros and his globalistrnState Department pals over Greece’srnobjections, recently took one billionrndollars from Taiwan in return for diplomaticrnrecognition. The Red Chinesernprompdy broke off diplomatic relationsrnwith Macedonia. Taiwan is worth muchrnmore to them.rnAnd so, Washington ended up withrnanother diplomatic egg on its face. ThernChinese government effectively terminatedrnthe deployment of U.S. troops.rnThe Clinton administration lamely declaredrnthat American troops may stay inrnMacedonia, but under a different flag—rnperhaps even the Stars and Stripes?rnMichael New, the American soldierrnwho refused to serve in Macedonia underrnthe U.N. flag, is probably having arngood chuckle right about now. It tookrnthe Red Chinese to get the U.N. bluernout, and the American red, white, andrnblue in.rnNot a bad turn of events, howeverrnbizarre. Except, of course, that foreignrntroops have no business in a sovereignrncountry like Macedonia, especially sincernthere has never been a war there and,rntherefore, no need for “peacekeepers.”rnIn other words, the U.N. flag has alwaysrnbeen a fig leaf covering the planned interventionrnin the neighboring Serbianrnprovince of Kosovo.rnNow that China has stripped that figrnleaf away, the whole world can see thatrnthe Macedonia deployment was merelyrna preamble to an eventual NATO occupationrnof Kosovo. The upcoming act ofrnaggression against a sovereign country isrnnot a spontaneous reaction of the Clintonrnadministration to some made-for-TVrnmassacre blamed on the Serbs, but partrnof a long-term stiategy to tear this part ofrnSerbia away.rnMeanwhile, the Clinton administration’srndesperate efforts to sell yet anotherrnwar to the American people are occasionallyrnproducing absurd results. Accordingrnto a CBS Radio news broadcastrnon February 25, “50 percent of Americansrnin a poll do not know where to findrnKosovo on a map; 54 percent favor sendingrnU.S. troops there.”rnSo what are we to conclude from thisrnpoll? That 54 percent of Americans favorrnshooting first and aiming later? Thatrnthe other 46 percent of Americans wouldrnalso send U.S. troops to Kosovo, if onlyrnthey could find it on a map? That at leastrnfour percent of Americans would sendrnU.S. troops anywhere, even if the place isrnnot on any map? That pollsters cannotrncompute, but they can lie?rnThe New World Order types havernnever been too concerned about theirrnmathematical deficiencies. Their solutionrnto most problems seems to be, “If itrndoesn’t compute, change the rules untilrnit does.” Sometimes this works, andrnsometimes it doesn’t, as in the case ofrnMacedonia, where the best laid plans ofrnmice and men seem to have been setrnback by Beijing.rnThe Clinton administiation’s reactionrnwas uncharacteristically swift. “One yearrnafter saying China had improved its humanrnrights record, the Clinton administrationrntoday issued one of its harshestrncondemnations of Beijing to date, andrndescribed some of the most serious humanrnrights violations in recent years,”rnthe New York Times reported in a frontpagernstory on February 27.rnFunny thing, this sudden discovery ofrnBeijing’s multi-year human rights abuses,rnonly one day after China’s SecurityrnCouncil veto. You don’t suppose thernState Department’s report had somethingrnto do with Macedonia, do you?rnChina’s action has made it all toornclear who is really wagging the Clintonrnadministration’s tail, and it raises anrninteresting question: Why don’t we “outsource”rnour entire foreign policy establishmentrnto China? Based on what’s happenedrnwith Macedonia, at least, the U.S.rntaxpayers may be better off.rnFewer Americans would risk theirrnlives in foreign adventures, and fewer taxpayers’rndollars would be spent on overseasrndeployments (e.g., two billion dollarsrnper year on Bosnia, and perhaps anotherrntwo billion dollars annually on thernplanned Kosovo force). And our nationalrnsecurity wouldn’t be any more compromisedrnthan it is today, since our governmentrnofficials, from Henry Kissingerrnonward, have been spilling the beans tornthe Chinese anyway.rnThe Chinese would also be better off,rnsince they would not have to waste theirrnmoney on buying U.S. politicians.rnFinally, Americans’ prestige in thernworld would rise. With Beijing conductingrnour foreign policy, American officialsrnwould make fewer stupid statements,rnwhich make the rest of us seem like morons,rntoo.rn— Boil DjurdjevicrnO B I T E R DICTA: This special issuernon the family was made possible by arngenerous grant from the Walter andrnCharlotte Kohler Foundation.rnThe Rockford Institute, publisher ofrnChronicles, invites applications for a clericalrnposition. Duties include, but are notrnlimited to, bookkeeping, word processing,rndatabase maintenance, event organization,rnand writing. Occasional travel.rnExcellent benefits. Qualified applicantsrnwill hold views consistent with those expressedrnin Chronicles.rnTwo poets are featured this month.rnThe first, Bradley R. Strahan, teachesrnpoetry at Georgetown University. Overrn500 of his poems have been published inrnsuch journals as America, Christian Century,rnthe Seattle Review, the ChristianrnScience Monitor, Orbis, and Poetry Australia.rnMr. Strahan leads the WashingtonrnPoets’ Workshop and is the publisherrnof the Black Buzzard Review.rnOur second poet is Alan Sullivan. Arnnovelist from North Dakota who turnedrnto poetry a few years ago, Mr. Sullivan’srnwork has appeared in many journals inrnthe United States and the United Kingdom,rnincluding Poetry, the Dark Horse,rnand the Spectator of London.rnOur artist this month is StephenrnSchildbach. He received his Master ofrnFine Arts in illusttation from the SavannahrnCollege of Art and Design. He startedrnhis career in illustration in New YorkrnCity while working as a graphic designerrnat a book publishing company. He hasrnprovided illustrations for magazines,rnbooks, and newspapers, and lives in Seattie,rnWashington.rn8/CHRONICLESrnrnrn